One way or another, Bob Rae will eventually discover that there simply isn't enough money available to finance all of his promised socialist programs. Because there isn't.
Ontario taxpayers are feeling as broke as their socialist government - ironically in large part because they've had predominantly socialist governments (federal and provincial) for the past two decades. More than half of what we earn already goes to these governments, and still they do not have enough money to operate on. So now everybody's broke. Ontario - public and private - is economically getting very very sick, and some unavoidable suffering is undoubtedly around the corner.
With a recession on, things look bad enough already without the prospect of four more years of socialist NDP rule. So what's next? What can Bob Rae possibly do? What are his options?
Well, he could abandon socialism and turn to free markets for the solutions he seeks: he could lower taxes, reduce the size of government, introduce freedom of choice to the many services he now thinks government should monopolize, abandon universality as the principle on which social assistance should be based, reduce the political influence of organized labour and special-interest lobby groups, protect freedom of speech and association, protect private property rights, and otherwise keep his nose out of the affairs of everybody's business. Those are just a few of the things he could consider.
Unfortunately, I just don't think that's what Bob Rae has in mind. He is, after all, a devout socialist. In keeping with the philosophy of the New Democratic Party, he is completely devoted to making the state play a bigger and bigger role in each of our lives - and to making us pay for it. Socialism may buy a lot of votes, but each of us always ends up paying the price. After all, socialism isn't voluntary, and with good reason.
Socialist economic policy - like NDP economic policy - strives to ensure that those who directly receive state-provided goods and services are not the same people who are responsible to pay for them, and that those who pay for them must be forced to pay. With this assurance, socialists can promise "free" or "cheaper" services or benefits to voters. Of course, what they are really offering is an elaborate state-welfare scheme in which "somebody else" is always forced to pay for some benefit promised by politicians. "Somebody else" is always each of us.
That's why each of us is now saddled with the bill for paying for our fellow citizen's social benefits - and why our fellow citizens are saddled with the bill for paying for each of our social benefits. GST, PST, income tax, property tax, business tax. In attempting to live at each other's expense, we temporarily enjoyed the brief illusion of state-provided security, but now find ourselves in a very insecure position indeed. The "fun part" of socialism is decidedly over; the worst is yet to come. The price has yet to be paid. Gone is the ability of government to continually provide the illusion of social security by spending our money on social programs.
So what can we expect from our socialist premier, Bob Rae?
What can his government do, given its lack of (our) money?
Simple. Use power. They can force some of us to directly provide unearned benefits for others - without the government having to provide the election promises made by our socialist politicians.
They can violate private property rights and force their programs on businesspeople and property owners. They can violate freedom of association and the sanctity of private contract. They can separate rights from responsibilities and impose obligations on variously selected target groups (i.e., employers, landlords, homeowners). They can force the private market to carry out their socialist goals.
Indeed, that is Rae's plan and that is what is happening in Ontario today. In his own words, Rae declared: "I feel that business has never done a terrific job of living up to its social responsibility. (I)f the business community would come up with some solutions to some of the major social problems of the day, there would be grounds for a real dialogue. The view that governments can do things about poverty and social problems while business is occupied solely with its own bottom line is too narrow a vision. That is something that needs to change." (Maclean's magazine, Sept. 17, 1990)
A recent Ontario government pamphlet on Pay Equity says it all: "Pay Equity: If you are an employee, it's your right. If you're an employer, it's your responsibility."
Separating rights from responsibility is immoral, and that is why socialism is fundamentally an immoral system. If we applied the same pattern of logic to each of the other issues, the pattern of separating rights from responsibilities becomes clear: "Rent Control: If you are a tenant, it's your right; If you are a landlord, it's your responsibility." Or "Sunday Shopping Restrictions: If you are a retail employee, it's your right; if you are a retail businessperson, it's your responsibility." Or "Official Bilingualism: if you are French-speaking, it's your right; if you don't speak French, it's your responsibility."
Small wonder that this country is breaking apart at the seams. Force is the glue that binds socialist thought to a resisting reality, and socialists do rule by force: If someone who might vote for them isn't happy with what he's earning where he works, they can just force his employer to pay more. If someone who might vote for them isn't happy with his rent increase (even if it's caused by their government's policies), they can just force his landlord to limit the increase. If someone who might vote for them wants a "common" pause day as a matter of convenience, they can just force retailers to close their doors. If someone who might vote for them isn't happy with the racial or sexual ratio of employees in a certain business or industry, they can just force businesses to adopt racial quotas and sexual quotas.
Force is at the root of socialist ethics, though in the particular examples I've cited above, this process has a slightly different name: in the examples above, it's called something that most quite properly regard with horror, namely, fascism. But don't be frightened by the word; be frightened by what it represents.
It is understandable that many may regard my use of the word "fascism" to be an unusually harsh and extreme term to apply to our own government's domestic policy. It is usually associated with "extreme right-wing" and very violent movements, such as (quite correctly) Nazism. Fortunately, we are still far from this extreme political condition - but the process is observably developing in Ontario today. Unless more of us begin to recognize the danger signs, history may be doomed to repeat itself once again.
Socialism has a habit of turning particularly ugly when it starts to run out of money, and that is why, unless reversed, it frequently evolves into fascism. It is no mere coincidence that Germany's fascist Nazi Party was a socialist party called the Nationalsozialistische Deutche Arbeiterpartei National Socialist German Workers' Party) It is no mere coincidence that Bob Rae and his New Democrats will find themselves resorting to fascist policy to achieve their socialist ends.
From a totalitarian perspective, it is certainly easy to see why fascism is more efficient than socialism.
One would have thought, given our past experiences in dealing with fascism around the globe, that more of us would have learned to recognize its essential components. Yet, as frightening and as unbelievable as it may seem, this is the process that is creeping into Ontario today and most of us have yet to recognize the danger signals. Rent controls, official bilingualism, pay equity laws, Sunday shopping laws, economic regulations and economic restrictions for business, increased deficits, and higher taxes for everyoneare all supported by Bob Rae and his New Democratic Party. Worse, a noticeable streak of nationalism disguised as opposition to free trade has become a mainstay of New Democratic policy. Worse still, is the realization that each of these policies represent direct violations of private property rights, and state control of private property to achieve socialist ends. And worst of all:Ontarians are unwittingly supporting the very policies that are ruining the province.
With at least four more years of NDP rule in Ontario, and with the past assistance of Liberals and Conservatives alike, socialism has been remarkably successful in Ontario: we now have high taxes, high government deficits, deteriorating government services (particularly in healthcare, education, and welfare), high unemployment in government-"protected" economic sectors, and we can thank socialism for chasing investment capital, both foreign and domestic, out of our province.
The sooner more of us come to recognize and reject socialism, the better. The later, the worse. If we wait too long, we'll have fascism.
It is regrettable that so many are only concerned with the symptoms of a disease, and not its cause. High taxes and high government deficits are symptoms; socialism is the cause. It is tragic that the benefits falsely promised us by socialism are rapidly decreasing, while the cost of socialism is rapidly increasing. The tragedy lies in the fact that those benefits could have been provided much more cheaply and securely by the free market.
If real-life tragedies like this bother you, you can do something about it. Support Freedom Party. If they don't bother you, I can wait. But not for long.
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last updated on April 28, 2002
